Who OneSignal is
OneSignal is a customer messaging platform, started by app developers who needed a better way to reach their own users, with offices in San Mateo, New York and London. From one API and dashboard it sends mobile and web push, in-app messages, email, SMS and iOS Live Activities.
Product and marketing teams use its segments and journeys on top of a push setup their developers build once. That is why it is one of the push providers our notifications module connects to.
What it does in your platform
Notifications
Delivers the platform's push notifications to your apps on iOS and Android, and to the web: payment and security alerts, delivery updates and, for customers who opted in, campaigns. Each customer is linked to OneSignal by an External ID, and delivery and click events stream back to the module.
How the connection works
One connector in the notifications module talks to OneSignal's REST API, and OneSignal's SDK sits in your app: in our Flutter apps, OneSignal's Flutter SDK.
The customer signs in
The app logs the customer in to OneSignal with their External ID, so every device they use is tied to one person.
A payment is made
The module builds the notification from the template your team edited in the backoffice, in the customer's language.
OneSignal is asked to send
The platform calls OneSignal's API with the customer's External ID, using an API key that never leaves its secrets.
Apple and Google deliver it
OneSignal delivers the push through APNs to Apple devices and through Firebase Cloud Messaging to Android, with the credentials you set up for each.
Events stream back
OneSignal's Event Streams post sent, received, clicked and failed events to the platform's endpoint, with the authentication headers you set.
A fallback for what matters
If a critical alert fails, the module sends it again through another channel, such as SMS.
Next to other providers
Push notifications run on the provider you prefer. OneSignal covers Apple, Android and web push in one place, using your APNs key and Firebase credentials, and the module can also talk to APNs and Firebase Cloud Messaging directly.
Templates, preferences and quiet hours belong to the module, not to OneSignal, so they stay the same whichever push provider delivers the notification.
When OneSignal fits best
A strong fit when
- You want one provider for push on iOS, Android and the web.
- Your apps are built with Flutter or React Native, and you want an SDK made for them.
- You want delivery and click events streamed to your own systems as they happen.
Also worth a look
- APNs and Firebase Cloud Messaging directly, when you want no service between your platform and Apple or Google.
- A provider your team already uses: its account becomes a connector too.
How we get you live
The contract
We help you get your OneSignal account and contract in place, with an app set up for each of your platforms.
Apple and Google credentials
We connect your APNs key and your Firebase credentials to OneSignal with you, so it can deliver to Apple and Android devices in your name.
The keys
The REST API key stays in your platform's secrets and nowhere else, and the app only carries your OneSignal App ID.
A full test run
Notifications go first to OneSignal test users on your team's devices, with delivery, display and deep links checked, before your first customer push.
